The Morning-After Pill Should Be Available to All Ages

By the Editors -
May 2, 2013

At what age should girls be allowed to
buy the “morning after” pill on their own? The answer, it seems,
depends on whether the question is framed by scientific
principle or by individual moral perspectives.

After reviewing research and consulting scientific
advisers, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research concluded
in 2011 that the most common form of over-the-counter emergency
contraception, Plan B One-Step, can be used to prevent pregnancy
safely and effectively by girls of any age.

The White House, by contrast, originally proposed, in late
2011, that only girls 17 and older should have over-the-counter
access. This week, the Obama administration offered a new limit:
age 15. Presumably the White House’s position is based on the
notion that girls any younger lack the maturity to use the drug
without a doctor’s prescription. No one has explained, however,
why maturity should factor in a decision that a girl younger
than 15 might nevertheless face, perhaps through no fault of her
own. Indeed, by proposing two different age restrictions within
the space of a year and a half, the administration only
demonstrates how arbitrary both are.

In their evaluation, experts at the Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research -- including obstetrician-gynecologists
and pediatricians -- determined that adolescent girls understand
that emergency contraception isn’t to be used routinely. If
there is cause to think those experts are wrong or that there is
some other measure of maturity that applies for emergency
contraception, we haven’t been told of it. The rationale
President Barack Obama offered for the age-17 limit was, “I
think most parents would probably feel the same way.”

Probably. Few parents are comfortable with the thought of
young teenagers using emergency contraception. That shouldn’t
make us insensitive to the fact that girls this age might need
to. Because the drug blocks fertilization best if taken within
24 hours of unprotected sex, it is counterproductive to require
the user to delay taking it in order to see a doctor first.

Under the administration’s proposal, even a 15-year-old
could be hindered by the need to show a valid ID, which is not
routinely issued to people that age.

The administration is also appealing a court’s ruling
against the original age-17 restriction, which was set to take
effect this month. It has argued that U.S. District Judge Edward Korman should have sent the issue back to the FDA for further
review, rather than striking down the age limit. As Korman has
pointed out, however, the legal fight to make emergency
contraception available to all over the counter has been going
on for more than 12 years. The court was right to side with
science, leaving parents to establish their own moral
guidelines. The administration should obey his ruling and remove
the age limit without delay.